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Monday, October 31, 2011

What is the culture behind this...

I have been thinking (I know a true rarity). One of my passions is the oppressed. As a professional, I have always written about and worked to help the most disenfranchised and marginalized people in society (primarily the poor and those with mental illness). I have also studied cultures and how cultural norms impact culture and behavior. As I experienced over the weekend, and have seen on message boards today, I liken the WLS (Weight Loss Surgery) community to a group of marginalized and disenfranchised people who are working to overcome the emotional dysphoria that is present as a result of the oppression it has experienced. Essentially, the obese (very oppressed in society) become the WLS people (also ostracized and oppressed) and this culture is wrought with the emotional upheaval that comes with change. As time goes on, the WLS community is building, and with that - people join with their own backgrounds, their own ideations, their own cultural attitudes. All of this collides into this new culture that is new and not very well known. In this, comes the attempt to become empowered. New cultures that come out of oppression strive to obtain empowerment. There are two ways to do this: aggression and assertiveness. Martin Luther King Jr spoke of assertiveness. But, as we are biologically based to fight when feeling endangered, many of us (including me as I sit on my soap box) use aggression to fight for our power and control. I have to wonder if some of what the WLS community is experiencing isn't what people who have risen from the ashes of oppression (Natives, African Americans, poor, mentally ill folks, children, the LGBTQ community, the obese) is the first stages of gaining this new identity in a world where differences are discouraged...